reason why persons who appear
to be in some measure, convinced of sin, so often lose their convictions; and
why so many professors of religion fall away and disgrace their profession, is,
because the work of conviction was never thoroughly performed; because they were
never convinced of unbelief. They saw, perhaps, that they were sinners. They
felt convinced of many sins in their tempers and conduct; they in some measure
corrected and laid aide these sins; then their consciences ceased to reproach
them, and they flattered themselves that they had become new creatures. But,
meanwhile, they knew nothing of the great sin of unbelief, and therefore never
confessed, repented of, or forsook it, until it proved their destruction. They
were like a man who should go to a physician to be healed of some slight
external wound, while he knew nothing of a deep-rooted disease which was preying
upon his vitals. Professors, try yourselves by these remarks. Look back to the
time when you imagined yourselves to be convinced of sin, and say whether you
were then convinced, or whether you have at any time since been convinced of the
exceeding sinfulness of unbelief. If not, there is great reason to fear that you
are deceived, that you have mistaken the form for the power of godliness.
